Luminous sign



April 2s, 1925.

R. GooDwlN LUMINOUS SIGN Filed March 22, 192.4

Infini;

]ay @oaf/uffi d Patented Apr. 28, 1925. Y

UNITED. sTATEs PATENT OFFICE.

ROY GOODWIN, OF WILMETTE, ILLINOIS.

LUMINOUS sien'. Application nica march 2a, i924. serial it. 700,994.

To all whom t may concern. o per side of thebottom wall 12. The chan- Be it known that I, ROY GOODWIN, a citlnel members 14 cO-Operate with the inturned zen of the United States, and resident of edges 13 and the marginal portions of the Wilmette, in the county of Cools and State forward wall l1 to form three parallel slots of Illinois, have invented a certain n ew and in the frame. It will be noted that in form- 60 useful Improvement in Luminous Signs,.of ing the fenestration 12, a tongue 15 is bent which the following is a full, clear, concise, inwardly from a lateral margin of the fenand exact description, reference bein had estration, the tongue 15 forming a closure to the accompanying drawing, forming a for one end ofthe three slots.

part of this specification. n In the forward slot, that is the slot be- 65 MyV invention concerns lumlnous signs tween the forward Wall 11 and the channel employing luminous paint such as the soshaped members 14, 1s inserted a rectangucalled radium paint, and more especially lar sheet of glass 16 constituting a window signs for displaying street numbers on for the fenestrat-ion 12. In the intermedihouses. The features of my invention inate slot, that is the slot formed between the 70 clude the placing of the luminous paint on flanges of the channel shaped members 14, an element which may be readily removed are inserted a plurality of character units, for renewing the paint, the use of unit such as shown in Figure 4, assembled in a characters which are assembled to form the row to form the desired number Or words,

desired number or words, and an improved such for example as the street number 7438 75 frame construction for the sign. shown in Figure 1. In Order to hold the.

These and further objects and features characters 17 in position and to proper] of my invention are best set forth in the space them, each character is provided wit following description of a particular eman upper and a lower shoe 18. Theychar- 5 bodiment of my invention, and in the acacters 1.7 are preferably stamped from sheet 80 companying drawings, wherein metal, in which case the shoes 18 are an Figure 1 is a perspective view of my deintegral part of the stampings and are provicev secured to a supporting surface such as vided with horizontal anges 19 of suba door; stantially the width of the intermediate Figure 2 is a vertical transverse section slots, so that the characters are prevented 85 taken On the line 2 2 of Figure 1; from tilting forwardly and are held in a Figure 3 is a plan section taken on the plane adjacent the rearward side of the inline 3-3 of Figure 2; termediate slot. The shoes 18 of the sev- Figure 4 is a perspective of one of the eral characters are preferably of the same M character units; length, whereby the characters may be made 90 Figure 5 is a perspective view of the as standard units. In this way the dealer bracket member of the frame; and who sells the device may keep in stock a Figure 6 is a detail transverse section of number of assorted characters all of the the plate provided with a coat of luminous same size, and insert characters in the int@ paint. termediate slot of the frame to form the In the embodiment of my invention here number desired by the particular purchaser. shown, the essential parts of the sign are In the rearward slot, that is the slot mounted in a frame 10 which comprises a formed between the channel shaped memforward wall 11 provided with a fenestrabers 14 and the rearward inturned portions tion 12 leaving a peripheral margin, upper 13 of the t-op and bottom walls, is inserted 100 and lower walls 12, and an end wall 13, the a rectangular plate 20 of sheet metal, the

last three walls preferably being formed forward face of which is provided with a by flanges bent backwardly from the forlayer of luminous paint 21, such as the raward wall. The flanges constituting the dium paint now in commercial use.

im upper and lower walls 12 are turned in- -While at one end of the frame the three 105 wardly as at 13 at their rearward edges. A slots are closed by the tongue 15, it will be channel. shaped guide member 14 is solnoticed from Figure 3 that the frame cardered or otherwise secured to the under side ries no such closure for the opposite ends of M of the upper wall 12. A similar channel the slots. This permits the insertion of the um shaped member 14 is provided on the upglass 16, the several characters 17, and the 110 plate 20, after the fra-me has been made and all of the soldering or bending operations completed. Thus, the dealer in selling the devices needs to perform no operation on the frame in order to insert the desired characters into the intermediate slot.

For securing the frame 10 to` a wall, door or other supporting surface, I provide a bracket 23 comprising a back plate and tapering upper and lower flanges 24, which terminate at one end of the bracket in a box-like pocket 25 consisting of an end wall 26 and a forward wall 27. Adjacent the pocket 25, the back plate of the bracket is provided with a pa-ir of holes 28 for the insertion of wood screws 29 which hold the bracket to the supporting surface. The frame 10 is placed with its rearward face adjacent the back plate of the bracket 23, the upper and lower flanges 24 of the bracket being spaced apart sufliciently to fit snugly over the upper and lower walls 12 of the frame. rIhe frame is inserted in the bracket 23 with an endwise movement, so that the right end of the frame enters the pocket 25, the end wall 26 of the pocket then serving as a closure for the open ends of the three slots in the frame. For holding the frame 10 in the bracket 23, I provide a wood screw 3() which passes through an aperture in the lef't hand lateral margin of the forward wall 11 and also passes through a hole 31-at the left hand end of the bracket 23. The single wood screw 30 thus holds the frame 10 securely in the bracket 23 against outward or longitudinal movement.

The luminous paint 21 with which the plate 2O is provided is preferably white or of other light color, and the characters 17 are preferably painted black or other dark color, so that when the device is viewed in the daylight, the observer looks through the glass window 16 and sees the dark characters 17 contrasted against the light background afforded by the paint 21. As is well known, the luminous paint after being exposed to the light during the daytime, will continue during the night to emanate light. Thus, when viewing the device in the dark, the observer will look through the glass window 16 a-nd see the opaque characters 17 silhouetted against the luminous background afforded by the paint 21. I prefer that the characters 17 be held in the frame 12 as closely as possible to the plate 20, in order that in the daytime no confusing shadows will be cast by the characters.

It has been found that luminous paint after a time loses its effectiveness in holding light rays, and for this and other reasons it is desirable from time to time to repaint the plate 20 or to substitute a new plate therefor. In order to accomplish this, the single screw 30 is removed, permitting the frame to be withdrawn from the bracket 23.

When the frame is thus removed, the end wall 26 of the bracket obviously no longer functions as a closure for the open ends of the several slots, so that the plate 2O may easily be withdrawn from the rearward slot and repainted. The plate is then reinserted in its slot, the frame 10 inserted in the bracket 23, and the wood screw 30 replaced. Should it be desired to change the characters 17, the frame may be removed in the same manner and the characters withdrawn from the intermediate slot and the desired characters substituted. Similarly, the glass window 16 may be replaced if broken.

Vhile I have shown but this particular embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit or scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. A luminous street number sign comprising a frame having top and bottom walls, front and rear flanges projecting inwardly from thev front and rear edges of said top and bottom walls, a member of channel section extending along one of said walls, the flanges of said channel member being spaced from said front and rear flanges, therebyz forming three slots distributed transversely of the frame, a glass pane in the front slot, indicating characters in the central slot, and a luminous plate in the rear slot.

2. A street number sign comprising a fra-me open at one end indicating characters supported by said frame insertable through said open end', a luminous background supported by said frame, a mounting bracket for attachment to a wall or the like, and cooperating horizontal guide surfaces on said bracket and on said frame adapting said frame to horizontal sliding motion into and out of said bracket, said bracket closing the open end of said frame.

3. A luminous house number sign comprising a frame having top and bottom channels, a plurality of separate intero-hangeable characters adapted to be received in said channels, and shoes at top and bottom of each character of semi-circular cross section for resilient gripping in said channels.

4. A street number sign comprising a frame, having a top wall, a bottom wall and one end wall, marginal flanges projecting inwardly from said walls, a second pair of flanges between said marginal flanges forming three slots transversely oft' said frame, a glass pane in the front slot, indicating characters in the central slot, and a luminous plate in the rear slot, said slots being open at the open end of said frame, a mounting bracket for securing to a point of attachment, said bracket having top and bottom guide flanges, and an end pocket, said frame being inserted between said top and bottom guide flanges and having its open end slid into said end pocket.

5. A luminous street number sign comprising a frame, slot means in said frame, a plurality of cut-out characterl units assembled in said slot means, a plate in said slot means, said plate being disposed behind said units and being provided with luminous paint for foi-min a luminous background for said units, said slot means being open at one end for permitting insertion of said units and insertion and renewal of said plate, a bracket for securement to a wall, and means on said bracket for removably holding said frame, said bracket comprising a closure for said open end of said slot means.

i. A luminous street number sign comprlsing a plurality of cut-out characters, a frame therefor, guide means on said frame for slidably supporting said characters, one end of said guide means being open for permitting the insertion of said characters, a bracket member for holding said frame comprising a closure for said open end, said bracket member having guide surfaces between which said frame is slidably inserted, and a background of luminous paint be- 30 hind said characters.

7. A luminous street number sign come prisin a frame, a plurality of characters carrie thereby, a plate provided with luminous paint forming a background for said characters, guide means on said frame for slidably supporting said plate, one end of said guide means beingopen for permitting the insertion and withdrawal of said plate, and a bracket member for holding said frame .comprising a closure for said open end said frame being adapted to be slid endwise into supported relation in said brackets and means for removably securing said bracket member to a supporting surface.

8. A luminous street number sign comprising a frame, forward, intermediate and rear slots in said frame, a sheet of transparent material constituting a window disposed in said forward slot, arow of cutout characters of opa ue material disposed in said intermediate s ot, and a plate provided with a layer of luminous paint disposed in said rear slot, an-d means for securlng said frame to a supporting surface.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe 55 my name this 17th day of March, 1924.

ROY GOODWIN. Witnesses:

J. DAVID DICKINsoN, C. H. YA'ms. 

